As Flowers-Rieger & Associates celebrates its 25-year anniversary this month, that initial $20,000 investment has grown to $1.8 million in annual billings. Partner Tim Rieger teamed up with Flowers in 1995.
“Although I brought with me $30,000 in business, I had to fund the start-up with the $20,000 in my 401k,” Flowers said. “Today, I would not recommend my clients do something like that but at the time, there was not a penalty to empty the account.”
 Reiger (left) and Flowers specialize in serving small and mid-sized businesses. Joe Pangburn photo |
At first, he said, “I literally had to do everything myself. I answered the phone, booked appointments, did the tax returns and found out quickly I couldn’t type.”
Today, Flowers-Rieger & Associates, 2919 E. Broadway, Suite 300, employs 12 people, six of whom are CPAs with an average of 25 years of experience. Flowers refers to that depth of knowledge as the firm’s “brand and reputation.”
“We’ve hired very experienced people, our average age is 54. We try to distinguish ourselves as a local firm with the in-depth, versatile capabilities of some of the larger national firms,” he said. “Access to experienced people is of great value to clients.”
The firm targets small to mid-sized businesses and wealthy individuals for tax, accounting, auditing, estate planning and consulting services. It has about 400 business clients and 700 individual clients.
Earlier in their careers, Rieger and Flowers both worked for Coopers & Lybrand. Their community involvement includes the Centurions of St. Mary’s, Alliance of Construction Trades, and the Tucson and Northwest chambers of commerce.
Biz Facts2919 E. Broadway, Suite 300
Flowers-Rieger & Associates
www.flowersrieger.com/
(520) 327-8706
Contact reporter Roger Yohem at ryohem@azbiz.com or call (520) 295-4254
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